Mar 16 - Geezer's Blog - National Artichoke Hearts Day

posted by Dave Lehner -

The Full Story:

The artichoke is not actually a vegetable – it’s technically a flower bud that hasn’t bloomed yet.So give your loved one a bouquet of artichokes! It’ll be so romantic!

The Romans thought artichokes were an aphrodisiac. But let’s be honest – what didn’t the Romans think were an aphrodisiac?

Until the 1700s, women in many countries were forbidden from eating artichoke hearts, for fear that the artichokes might cause them to fall in love with other men.

A 1576 medical manual said the artichoke “has the virtue of…provoking Venus for both men and women; for women making them more desirable, and helping the men who are in these matters rather tardy.”Well that’s…a delicate way of putting it.

Castroville, California calls itself the “Artichoke Center of the World.” In 1947, they elected an Artichoke Queen named Norma Jean. She later changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. I guess artichokes really do make women more desirable.